The prime minister made the announcement after taking a first-hand look at the floods in Chukai town here.

“In view of the severity of the floods in several states this time, there is definitely a need to give priority to flood mitigation projects in the 11th Malaysia Plan,” he told a news conference after attending a briefing on flood management in the Kemaman parliamentary constituency at the Kemaman Municipal Council hall here.

He said the relevant departments would be asked to submit reports and studies to support the government plan.

At the same time, he said, the government would have to look into its financial capability because flood mitigation projects incurred a huge expenditure, running into hundreds of millions of ringgit.